Looks like the talks between GM and the United Auto Workers have recessed without an agreement.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20807979/

DETROIT - .

I read somewhere that an average auto worker is paid $73.26 an hour. However, when we consider this cost and the fact that more and more of the automakers are moving their plants overseas...are the unions making things worse?

Not that I don't believe you Cat, but could you find some documentation for the 73.26 an hour?

If you are talking 73.26 an hour and then benefits then that is something I would consider to be quite impressive.

If you are talking 73.26 for the entire package, well, though still good, I do not find this to be quite as "outrageous".

As for how the auto makers are moving their plants overseas.......everything is moving overseas that can be moved. We are purposely being turned into a service based work force with no way to create our own products. These free trade agreements are really ticking me off and have been for quite some time.

Welcome to globalization and the one world government. We will all be slaves....well, most will be. I'll be killed before I allow myself to become one.

i'm pretty much betting that the 73 dollar rate is inclusive of thier entire benefit package.

all i have to do to understand the scenario here is look at my own situation in my job. just off the top of my head i'm thinking my own wage package under our ibew agreement is somewhere around the 60 dollar plus range. trust me that's NOT what i'm taking home in my wallet.

the biggest expense being doled out by dues paying union members like myself more'n likely goes toward the unbelievably high cost of medical/health expenses. i hear about this complaint all the time at our monthly union meetings. i hear constantly how the cost of health care consistently sucks up huge chunks of our earnings and i see the evidence every time i get a statement in the mail showing the cost of whatever service i get from a medical provider.

but yeah i can see the quick media spin as usual which most of the attempts to paint the members of organized labor as being among the fat, lazy elite in american society.

i beg to differ.

Health care, definitely.

Not that unions are perfect, but they're far from the true evil out there.

Also, worse than health care is the fact that the Big Three business model no longer works, particularly in environmental terms. There are some charts toward the end of An Inconvenient Truth which show how shockingly far behind American auto makers are, in terms of simple competitiveness on the global market. Not only the least fuel efficient vehicles, but the slimmest profit margins. The worst of both worlds. And now "contract negotiations" are here! The days of good-paying blue collar jobs seem to be over in the United States. Because that's how insecure certain former elites are about phasing out of oil. It's sad.

I'll keep looking for it, CE...if that's a wrong amount, please correct it. I know nothing about this kind of employment and I thought it would lead to an interesting discussion, hopefully with better information from those of you who are more in the know than I am.

This article is about a year and a half old, but it definitely shows that they don't make near $74 an hour (unless benefits are included)


http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/200 ... ages_x.htm

I'm not a math whiz, but at 40 hours a week, that equals out to more like $27.00 an hour.

I definitely agree with Rooster's take on this. The media (who is own by big business) makes its job demonizing unions and union workers. Seriously, who here thinks $57K is living high off the hog? Its certainly not. And considering how much of that $76 would have to be going to medical care, its quite ridiculous. It shows both that we are paying and are being completely exploited by the insurance industry, and that middle class jobs are so scarce, its not even laughable anymore.

If you read the article I posted, there is a comment about being able to be an autoworker with little more than a high school diploma and a clean criminal record. I say, so what? Not everyone has to be a college graduate and god knows that doesn't even promise a job in this country any more (I am living proof of that).

Apparently I must retract my statement in the beginning of this thead about the hourly wage of autoworkers...I'm sure that's not the case...unless it's the wage of perhaps someone in management or on an even higher rung.


Take a look at these links:

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/co ... 958038.htm


http://www.detnews.com/2005/autosinside ... 318432.htm

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ar ... /708150406

http://www.futureoftheunion.com/